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Thursday, October 12, 2017

When was the last time you dug into an apple pie filling that tasted great, no crust required? When I was a kid, Northern Spy apples were as prevalent in the orchards as the day was long, and when we went picking we were guaranteed at least two huge bagfuls of giant, beautiful fruit. Spies needed no adornment in my mom's pies, save for an occasional sprinkle of cinnamon. They were perfect on their own.

These days, spies are a rarity, and the other suggested substitutes simply aren't as good. The last pie my mom made wound up with a filling of relatively bland, over-softened apples that shrunk down so much it looked like there was hardly any at all. I've tried the old tactics of sauteeing the apples before adding them, etc, but still the results aren't what I was going for.

Then I started roasting them. It started as a fairly quick way to add flavourful fruit to oatmeal, and as I continued to tweak and add layers of flavour I eventually wound up with a pan of delightfully rich-tasting, ever so slightly gooey apples perfect for topping a dessert. In fact, I would have titled this recipe a "dessert sauce" instead of a "pie filling", except that when I gave it out as gifts, the recipients by and large made pies with it - the texture is reminiscent of canned pie filling, although the taste is not as sweet and definitely more multifaceted than commercial products. Us, though - we dug into a jar (or three) and spooned it over yogurt, warmed it up and dolloped it on ice cream (rum raisin ice cream is perfect with this) and even used it in lieu of syrup on Sunday morning pancakes. For Home Ec this year, I'm thinking of making a batch to turn into "apple pie rolls" - essentially stuffed, rolled up pieces of bread baked enchilada-style - or to use over French toast.Rich Roasted Pie FillingAdapted from here and hereMakes ~ 3 ½ cups, enough for one (regular depth) 9” pie